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"Thought I'd check out downtown. I just drove through on my way to Jase's last time."

She pointed east. "Follow this road straight into the square. Can't miss it. If you hit the courthouse, you're there, it's literally in the middle of everything."

The walk to town took another thirty minutes. I passed neat houses with tidy lawns, American flags on porches, kids' bikes in driveways. Normal America. The kind of place people deployed to protect without ever seeing it themselves.

The town square opened up exactly as Lisa described. The courthouse stood in the center, red brick with a clock tower that probably hadn't kept accurate time in years. Businesses lined three sides of the square. Java Jolt coffee shop, Draper's Hardware, Dorothy's Antiques, a few other stores that looked like they'd been there since the town's founding.

The Down Home Diner anchored one corner. Through the windows, I could see booths packed with families, the dinner rush in full swing.

My stomach growled. I'd skipped lunch, too focused on helping the twins prep for their presentation. The diner looked like every small-town restaurant I'd ever passed but never entered. Tonight felt different. Maybe because I wasn't passing through.

A cowbell clanged when I pushed open the door. The smell hit immediately. Fried chicken, biscuits, something sweet baking in the back. Real food, not the processed stuff I'd lived on for two decades.

An elderly woman, tiny enough to make Amber look tall, stood at the hostess stand. She wore a flower-print dress and had silver hair pinned in a neat bun. Her eyes were sharp, taking in everything about me in one quick sweep.

"Hungry?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am."

"Special today is chicken and dumplings. Pattie makes them better than anyone in three counties. Course, I taught her how, so I might be biased."

"Sounds good. Could I get a corner table? By the window?"

She studied me for a moment. "Military man. Always wanting to see who's coming and going."

She raised her voice. "Lettie! Got a customer who needs the corner booth!"

A woman in her fifties appeared and waved me over. "Right this way, honey."

The booth gave me exactly what I wanted. Back corner, view of the door and the street outside. Old habits.

"Special?" Lettie asked once I was settled.

"Yes ma'am."

"Cornbread or biscuits?"

"Biscuits."

"Sweet tea, soda or water?"

"Tea."

She nodded her approval and disappeared.

The food arrived faster than seemed possible. Chicken and dumplings with gravy thick enough to stand a spoon in, green beans that had seen some bacon, coleslaw that was more mayo than cabbage but somehow perfect. The biscuits came with real butter and honey.

You would have thought I hadn’t just had Bonnie’s spectacular dinner two nights ago.

Halfway through the meal, the tiny woman from the hostess stand slid into the booth across from me. Up close, I could see she had to be pushing ninety. Maybe past it.

"You're Jase's cousin."

I nodded.

"I'm Little Grandma. Everyone calls me that, so don't you go trying to be formal."

"Yes ma'am."